Board to regulate water release

Once the Cauvery Management Board (CMB) is formed in accordance with the Supreme Court’s order, it will regulate the release of water to beneficiary states.

However, the water will be released as per the Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal’s final order. Also, all the reservoirs in the Cauvery basin will come under the board’s purview.

The tribunal, in its final order earlier, said a board can be set up on the lines of Bhakra Beas Management Board, which monitors the release of water to Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan.  The board will be headed by a senior official as decided by the Union Water Resources Ministry. All the riparian states — Karnataka, Tamil Nadu  and Kerala — and the Union Territory of Puducherry will have their representatives on the board, an official from the Ministry of Water Resources said. 

While Karnataka and other states will lose their supervisory powers over their reservoirs, the board will play a major role in administration, operation, maintenance, and regulation of water supply from Cauvery and its tributaries to all four states as per the tribunal’s order.  Before starting the process of setting up the board, the Ministry of Water Resources has to notify the tribunal’s final order as per the Inter States Water Disputes Act.

Once the Centre notifies the final award of the tribunal, the Cauvery Supervisory Committee will cease to exist and new set of bodies like Cauvery Management Board (CMB) and Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC) will come into existence. The CWRC, a sub group headed by a member of the board, will be constituted to assist to the board on water storage, crop cultivation and other related issues. The committee will comprise experts from irrigation, agriculture, animal husbandry, hydrology and related fields.

Though in 2013, soon after the tribunal’s final award was announced, the Centre tried to set up the board and sent the matter to the law ministry, seeking its opinion. However, the matter was pending as Karnataka questioned the final award and also pleaded with the apex court to keep the setting up of CMB in abeyance till the court reviewed the tribunal award. Tamil Nadu, on the other hand, has been demanding the board at the earliest.

An official said the board will benefit all the states, similar to the Tungabhadra Water Management Board, which decides allocation of water to Karnataka and Telangana.